PackratMagpie
28659
613
20
Sep 3, 2025 9:17 PM
PackratMagpie
28659
613
20
Lovethesmelloftoastedsourdoughbread
#10 epitome. I still read it as eppy-tome
SirDucken
#11 adding this to my lexicon immediately
darthinebriated
#10 militia pronounced Mill-ah-tah
Beyonceuponatime
#10 gazebo pronounced gays-bo
secondgoaround
Watch this fun little skit https://youtu.be/0uuCNAwXGaQ?si=7F9rb0fDYafogukI
apLundell
#10 In middle school, my favorite book was "Rendezvous with Rama". I knew what "Rendezvous" meant. And I knew what the word pronounced "Ron-day-voo" meant. I was in college before I realized they were the same word.
ObiWanKenobitch
Same for me with epitome. I thought they were two different words. The correct pronunciation which I never saw spelled out and I guess never wondered how to spell it and the epi-tome (rhymes with Rome) pronunciation and spelling was a different word and they were just synonyms.
Rips4w
#10 "Maniacal"
Yes, I pronounced it "main-ee-ackle" for quite some time.
nwehehehe
#10 very confidently assured my classmates in primary school that a piano player was called a 'pianist', but, crucially, forgot to pronounce the 't'
grandfalloon
I worked in a restaurant where some nights we had a piano player. We had an older Scottish couple dining with us, and after dinner, they came up to me and the lady said, in a thick accent, "Yehr pianis is FANTASTIC!" I usually have at least some stupid joke to make but I was utterly speechless. Her husband chuckled and said, "Noh, ah knoh what ye think she said. What she said was, PIANIST."
Crowlands
#10 I still remember thinking biased was pronounced "Be-assed", believing the word came from some old fable or myth (I forget which one) wherein some biased judge was cursed into becoming a donkey.
He was Be-assed.
PackratMagpie
That is a really cool reason
whatexactlyisthefunctionofarubberduck
#1 fire door?
Slashenaar
Nah I think it's wrong to fire the door just because some employee locked it
theomni
#6 Correlation does actually imply causation. But people are a bit unclear on the definition of imply. And, for that matter, the difference between evidence and proof.
Niagaran
#10 Indicted. I'd heard it but never saw it written until that time in class where every kid has to take a turn reading a paragraph (lazy teacher). "Indickted" I thought it rhymed with "predicted"
dragonsluvtacos
My husband still pronounces it “in-dick-ted” every now and again.
HollerinAtTheVoid
#10 Hermione, I know it’s technically a name…..but my brain insists on pronouncing it “Her-Me-Ohn”
LanceCharisma
Are you Viktor Krum?
TheDreadPirateBoberts
for me it was her-me-own-ee
IRCBrink
Was gonna say the same. I called her "her-moan". I guess I just kinda ignore the "I" that was there
TheGoodKevin
#10 quinoa
WaterUnderTheRocketAppliances
Realizing I've never actually heard that word spoken, so I'm probably wrong about it too
TheGoodKevin
Keen-wah
ElGatoMx
JOAQUIN!!
10wreckedtenrecs
Couscous. Oh how I butchered that one.
AnthropomorphisingEverything
You know what, I completely forgot that I mispronounced this word in my head until I read this comment. Huh.
Niagaran
Quinn-Noah
BenderRodriguz1010
#15
Idontspellcheck
#10 ragout.
TheNextHafthorBjornsson
Oh that's the French way, I was wondering why the fuck it looked so unfamiliar and why I've always known it as "Ragu".
ClayTiger1
#10 Rincewind. I still don’t know if it should be wind as in the blowy stuff, or wind like a clock.
Pummelallthethings
Blowy stuff, he wasn't afraid to put a y there for the phonetics and he was a fleeting sort so I think it really fits.
PocketCleric
#1 - ok, so call 911, say youre locked in, then say your going to walk out the emergency exit...and let them deal with it.
InternetAnonymityplz
#10 quay. Not a word that comes up a ton but still, oof.
gman003
#10 Lingerie. "LING-er-ee", hard G.
gman003
Also "geyser", which I pronounced as "geezer" and the teacher chuckled and corrected me on BUT HEY TURNS OUT "GEEZER" IS ALSO AN ACCEPTED PRONUNCIATION.
TinyOctopus
#9 duck. A greasy DUCK.
Also. Re: #10: mundane. Read it in Xanth before Tiny octopus knew what a skeeze Piers Anthony was (look up his novel Firefly). used to pronounce it myoon-dane, because mun-dane was so...mundane.
Pummelallthethings
Grease that duck or it'll sink. I clearly have no idea what to do with a grease gland so I'll leave you to check on that. #10 for me was every word if someone watched me read out loud. Can talk in front of groups easy now.
Wolfshead009
I made the mistake of reading Firefly since I thought I knew the author. It . . . uh. . . opened my eyes to just how peple can appear to be normal and be . . . something else.
AnthropomorphisingEverything
Hey, we had the same PA experience! 7th grade me thought his books were super cool and had a few romantic things. Then I looked back on ‘em and realized how overly and oddly sexualized they were.
semicapablehuman
#10 - Penelope. Pronounced Peen-ul-ope. Read that out loud in 2nd grade.
Grimmy32
Someone never watched Wacky races then!
rcbuns
hay-elp!
elvisdumbledore
It's pronounce caliope, Penelope.
MalkilTheDarkFire
#10 Harbinger. Acolyte. Vignette.
Tekktokk
Harbinger was one of mine too!
SkookumchuckSammy
#10 Misled pronounced myzeld
Niagaran
MySled
SirSage
Rosebud
Feralkyn
That was mine, too! Same exact mispronunciation, lol
whatexactlyisthefunctionofarubberduck
#10 epitome
ObiWanKenobitch
I knew I couldn’t be the only one for this one. Epi-tome. The thing is, I knew epitome was a word (the way it sounds) and just thought they were synonyms.
SansAandAnguS
Came to add this one!
trythebleucheese
ah yes, the ol' Shia LaBeouf
bambulina
#10 epitome
ObiWanKenobitch
#10 Along with epitome (epi-tome) I thought segue was pronounced with just one syllable. Seg - rhymes with leg. And that you put “way” after it for the phrase segue way but you didn’t have to use way with it and could just use segue “seg” as a standalone word itself. You could “seg” into something or you could segue way into something.
PackratMagpie
That makes a lot of sense
LordKitchenersValet
#18 This is unironically super good advice and you should adopt it for your own mental health.
gman003
I'm a fan of replacing it with supervillain-tier threats. "Welp, I forgot to take the trash out. Time to go blow up the sun."
PackratMagpie
Oh this is really good too. Helps keep the scale of mistakes from becoming so exaggerated. Thank you!
AnthropomorphisingEverything
I love that! I had a hard time taking compliments, so I started following them up with over-aggrandized statements like “well, I AM the smartest person in the world.”
TI99Kitty
#10 - Not exactly this, but still fucks me up: Any word in English that has a homograph in Spanish (or is just very similar to a Spanish word. I tend to read it with the Spanish pronunciation.
cpcgamer
#10 - Anemone, pronounced ana-moan.
MadHat
Oof lol
thrael
chaos... chaw-ohs
PackratMagpie
Beyonceuponatime
Epitome - pronounced eppy-toam
SentientSlug
Wait….how is it supposed to be pronounced? xD
ObiWanKenobitch
E-pit-ah-me. This was mine too. I was way too old before I figured out that those two words (epi-tome and e-pit-a-me) were actually the same word and not just synonyms.
SentientSlug
Omg thank you so much
EBlade19889
Victuals. In my defense, there is no reason for the actual pronunciation.
Niagaran
Thank the gods that seems to be regional because I've never seen it before and only heard of "Tender Vittles" cat food.
Interoperability
YO WHAT THE FUCK! /ˈvɪtəlz/?! I am personally offended.
PackratMagpie
Telemapus
Classic example of fusty old academics deciding a word needed to be spelled like it came direct from Latin, instead of via Anglo-Norman.
Meltemi
I was today years old when I learned that "vittles" is not just a regionalism, but the actual, bona-fide pronunciation.
amazigou
#10 hyperbole
DontLookAtMeInThatToneOfVoicee
Dais, haphazard
Wgafayihyd
Epitome rhymes with Rome not tea. Actually it was a Marine Major who asked what it meant. When I pronounced it right, he knew what it meant.
yqpqfrdp625772
Epitome is the epitome of mispronounced words because you learned if from reading. I still read it wrong in my head.f
DamnYourePretty
Cupboard. In my defence, i had never seen the word nor heard it pronounced in any manner other than "cubberd". My teacher was flabbergasted when i asked for help with what that word was in the 9th grade.
danielsan1977
Subtle. Why is the "b" silent?!
101Medic
It's being subtle
n0n53n53
i literally just said "hyper bowl" in my head when I read that. I KNOW the pronunciation but my brain fucks with me every time.
AgamemnonsMemes
I say hyper bowl in my head EVERY TIME i see it, then correct myself.
AgentOddball
Posthumous and synecdoche.
Minterfresh
who wants to go hyper boling
fubars
Detritus. I'm still not 100% sure about it and I refuse to look it up at this point.
YoureWaifuAShit
i say de TRY tus. it sounds high falutin' even if it's wrong
chicamery
It just seems soooo wrong to me. I have to force myself to say it that way or no one knows what I am saying. It seems so much like Deh-treh-tuss to me. Don't let me loose on epitome.
iDrawStuff
Homage. I was in my 40's when I learned from my HS child that the "H" is silent, and that it is in fact pronounced "aa·muhj", NOT "HO-mahj".
Still sounds very wrong to me.
twfx
Puny, rendezvous
SloeJimFizz
Facade and phalanx...
kramorp
Hegemony. It is not pronounced like hedge money.
Feralkyn
Misled. "MY-seld."
Inmate45
Imbecile - a teacher had to correct me after a pronounced it 'im-beh-chilli'
DarthRastus
Awry
somethingnotyettaken
Literally just found out that hegemony is apparently "hedge-em-en-ee" and not "heg-eh-mon-ee"; thanks, Star Trek (for both introducing me to the word in print and then telling me I'm a dumb-ass on screen).
funkygasquatch
Hors d'oeuvre
Flametide
Mine was Sirius. I pronounced it Sire-Us. Wasn't until the 3rd Harry Potter movie came out that I knew I was wrong.
Fortherea
I love that word! Whenever I teach it to my EFL learners, I repeat it a dozen teams and have them say it as often.
amazigou
it is the epitome of mispronounced words ;)
kindpanda
Colonel
redpilljunkie
This word is literally the worst.
DontLookAtMeInThatToneOfVoicee
And lieutenant (I'm English)